Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, East Sussex County Council, St Anne's Crescent, Lewes

Contact: Abigail Blanshard  Email: democraticservices@esfrs.org

Items
No. Item

39.

Declarations of Interest

In relation to matters on the agenda, seek declarations of interest from Members, in accordance with the provisions of the Fire Authority’s Code of Conduct for Members.

Minutes:

There were none

40.

Election of Chairperson pdf icon PDF 141 KB

Report of the Monitoring Officer

Minutes:

The Fire Authority considered the report of the Monitoring Officer inviting the Fire Authority to elect a Chairperson and to request, once elected that they advise on their preferred title. (Copy in Minute Book)

 

The Combination Order for the creation of the East Sussex Fire Authority set down the procedures for the election of the Chairperson of the Authority.

 

The Standing Orders of the Fire Authority required a Chairperson to be elected from its Members as the first item of business at the annual meeting.

 

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority:

 

       i.          appointed Councillor Roy Galley as Chairperson of the Authority; and

 

      ii.          the Chairperson advised that his preferred title was that of ‘Chairman’

41.

Election of Vice-Chairperson pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Report of the Monitoring Officer

Minutes:

The Fire Authority considered the report of the Monitoring Officer inviting them to elect a Vice-Chairperson for the forthcoming year and, once elected to ask the Vice-Chairperson to advise of their preferred title. (Copy in Minute Book)

 

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority:

 

       i.          appointed Councillor Carolyn Lambert as Vice-Chairperson of the Authority; and

 

      ii.          the Vice-Chairperson advised that her preferred title was that of ‘Vice-Chair’

42.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Scott and West

43.

Notification of items which the Chairperson considers urgent and proposes to take at the end of the agenda/Chairperson's business items

Any Members wishing to raise urgent items are asked, wherever possible to notify the Chairperson before the start of the meeting.  In so doing they must state the special circumstances which they consider justify the matter being considered urgently

Minutes:

The Chairman of the Fire Authority introduced all Members and Officers in attendance.

 

Following the East Sussex County Council elections the Chairman welcomed the newly appointed Members of the Fire Authority, namely Cllr Abul Azad, Cllr Nuala Geary, Cllr Wendy Maples, Cllr Sorrell Marlow-Eastwood and Cllr Paul Redstone.

 

The Chairman also welcomed back Cllr Chris Dowling, Cllr Carolyn Lambert, Cllr Sarah Osborne, Cllr Phil Scott, Cllr Barry Taylor and Cllr David Tutt who have been reappointed by East Sussex County Council.

 

The Chairman asked that the Fire Authority record its thanks to Cllr John Barnes, Cllr Ruth O’Keeffe, Cllr Peter Pragnell, Cllr Jim Sheppard and Cllr Andy Smith.  The Fire Authority thanked them all for their dedicated service during their time as Members.  The Authority was grateful for their contributions to the Fire Authority’s work and wished them well in the future, all these Councillors will be written to individually to thank them.

 

44.

To consider any public questions

Minutes:

There were none

45.

To receive any petitions

Minutes:

There were none

46.

Non-confidential Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 379 KB

To approve the Non-confidential Minutes of the last meeting held on 11 February 2021

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2021 be approved and signed by the Chairman (Copy in Minute Book)

47.

Callover

The Chairperson will call the item numbers of the remaining items on the open agenda.  Each item which is called by any Member shall be reserved for debate.  The Chairperson will then ask the Fire Authority to adopt without debate the recommendations and resolutions contained in the relevant reports for these items which have not been called.

Minutes:

Members reserved the following items for debate:

 

48        Political Representation on the Panels of the Fire Authority

 

49        Fire Authority and Panel Meetings 2021-2023

48.

Political Representation on the Panels of the Fire Authority pdf icon PDF 257 KB

Report of the Monitoring Officer

Minutes:

The Fire Authority received the report of the Monitoring Officer (MO) seeking to secure political balance on Panels in accordance with the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 and agree the resultant membership to the Panels of the Fire Authority. (Copy in Minute Book)

 

The Fire Authority was required to keep under review the allocations of seats on Committees and other bodies to ensure, so far as practicable, that they reflected the political groups on the Authority.  The rules governing this representation were outlined in the report.

 

There are four political groups on the Fire Authority: Conservative, Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat.  Following the East Sussex County Council Elections on 6 May 2021, the Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties now had equal representation on the Fire Authority.

 

The Panels are the Authority’s committees set up in accordance with Standing Order 41 and their terms of reference are shown in the Constitution.  The size of each Panel is not constituted and could be agreed by the Fire Authority.  To ensure that each Panel was properly representative of the overall membership of the Fire Authority it was agreed that the size of each Panel be reduced to 6 Members from the current 7, enabling each Panel, apart from the Principal Officers Appointments Panel, to become an exactly proportionate replica of one third of the Fire Authority.

 

The Membership of each Panel was confirmed to the meeting, and it was agreed that the Authority would elect a Chairperson of each Panel at this meeting.

 

Councillor Maples was nominated as Chairperson of the Scrutiny & Audit Panel by Cllr Powell, seconded by Cllr Evans.  The nomination was uncontested and passed by the Authority.

 

Councillor Peltzer Dunn was nominated as Chairperson of the Policy & Resources Panel by Cllr Galley, seconded by Cllr Powell.  The nomination was uncontested and passed by the Authority.

 

Councillor Geary was nominated as Chairperson of the Human Resources Panel by Cllr Galley, seconded by Cllr Azad.  The nomination was uncontested and passed by the Authority.

 

Councillor Lambert was nominated as Chairperson of the Urgency Panel by Cllr Galley, seconded by Cllr Peltzer Dunn.  The nomination was uncontested and passed by the Authority.

 

Councillor Tutt was nominated as Chairperson of the Pensions Board by Cllr Lambert, seconded by Cllr Galley.  The nomination was uncontested and passed by the Authority.

 

The Authority agreed that Councillor Galley would remain as Chairperson of the Principal Officer Appointments Panel.

 

 

Conservative

Labour

Liberal Democrats

Green

SCRUTINY & AUDIT (6)

3

Azad

Redstone

Theobald

1

Scott

 

1

Lambert

 

1

Maples (Ch)

POLICY & RESOURCES (6)

3

Peltzer Dunn (Ch)

Galley

Taylor

1

Evans

 

1

Lambert

1

Powell

HUMAN RESOURCES (6)

3

Azad

Geary (Ch)

Marlow-Eastwood

1

Scott

1

Osborne

1

West

URGENCY (6)

3

Dowling

Galley

Geary

1

Scott

 

1

Lambert (Ch)

1

Powell

PRINCIPAL OFFICER APPOINTMENTS PANEL (5)

2

Galley (Ch)

Theobald

1

Evans

1

Lambert

1

Powell

PENSIONS BOARD (4)

Taylor, Hamilton, Tutt  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

49.

Fire Authority and Panel Meetings 2021-2023 pdf icon PDF 134 KB

Report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer

Minutes:

The Fire Authority received the Report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer which informed the Members of the dates of meetings of the Fire Authority and Panels for the remainder of 2021 through to April 2023.

 

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority noted the dates of meetings of the Fire Authority and Panels through to April 2023.